Your Friday Morning Briefing

Hawaii braces for Hurricane Lane, stormy conditions take over the middle of the country, and summer returns to the east.

Welcome to the first WeatherOptics Morning Briefing! In this series, we’ll give you a brief rundown on everything weather-related at this time of the week that you need to know.

Hawaii Braces for Hurricane Lane:

The story that has been dominating the weather for the last few days is Hurricane Lane and its unusual course towards the Hawaiian islands. With these islands situated in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, you’d think they’re used to large storm and hurricane threats. Quite the contrary actually. Looking back over the last 100 years, there have only been a handful of hurricanes that have directly impacted the Hawaiian islands, let alone a major one like Hurricane Lane. Here’s what you need to know about this story:

A State of Emergency remains in effect for Hawaii as the island state prepares for the most severe hurricane since Category 4 Hurricane Iniki made landfall over Kauai in September 1992. President Trump has been briefed on the situation and has approved the State of Emergency plan submitted by the state governor.

Hurricane Lane is weakening and will make its closest passing to the Hawaiian islands late tonight and early tomorrow.

We’ve already seen significant flooding from Hurricane Lane, even with the storm’s center miles away from actual land. Outer bands have dropped over a foot of rainfall across the Big Island, prompting flooding and landslides already. This will continue for the next few days, with the potential for more than 2 feet of rainfall.

Evacuations have already began in some areas. A brush fire on the northwestern side of the island of Maui has forced officials to begin evacuations of residents. Winds from Hurricane Lane have been blamed as the source behind the rapidly growing fire.

Hurricane Lane will take a sharp turn to the west late tonight and early tomorrow, which is great news, as the center of the storm will spare direct impact on land. With that said, wind gusts close to or just above hurricane force will still be possible, along with continued heavy rain and flooding that could surpass 2 feet in some locations.

Storm Conditions Take Over The Middle of The Country :

Severe rounds of heavy rain and thunderstorms can be expected today and this weekend throughout the Midwest. The first batch of this rain is moving through Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and parts of the upper Midwest this morning, but should gradually weaken throughout the day. Later in the evening and overnight we expect the possibility of strong to severe storms to develop, with the SPC highlighting Iowa as the main state to experience possible strong winds, hail, and an isolated tornado or two. Severe weather will take a break on Saturday, and then return to the region on Sunday, this time targeting the upper Midwest, from Chicago to Detroit, and back across the northern plains.

Heavy rain will gradually dissipate this morning across the lower Midwest and Mississippi Valley, but severe thunderstorms will likely develop tonight across Iowa and the surrounding states.

Things relax a bit on Saturday with just some scattered activity, but nothing major.

Severe weather returns to the region on Sunday, with big storms possible from Chicago to Detroit. We’ll be watching this closely as it could become a fairly active day. Severe weather will also be possible on Sunday across the northern Plains.

Look for an in-depth story on the severe weather in the Midwest later today.

Summer Returns to the East:

It’s been a hot summer across much of the east, with lots of tropical air inundating the region over the last few months. While we’ve seen a bit of a break from that over the last few days, it appears the summer heat is not quite finished as we start to transition into fall.

A stunning weekend is on tap for the Northeast, with mild temperatures and dry conditions expected. If you have outdoor plans, you’re in for some nice weather.

The nice weather will become a bit too much of a good thing as we head into early next week, with temperatures expected to sky-rocket well above normal. We could be talking about near record-breaking temperatures for the end of August in some locations, with lots of 90 degree readings popping back up. Tropical air will return as well.

The Northeast won’t be the only region feeling the heat. Much of the Midwest will be in a similar situation, with nearly 2/3 of the country seeing above normal temperatures.

With the return of the summer heat, we’ll have to watch for the return of some potential thunderstorms heading into next week. Severe weather is likely to return to the Midwest, but may also return to the Northeast. We’ll have details on that over the next few days.

Currently leads business development and forecasting across all sectors and is the Founder and CEO. Pecoriello founded WeatherOptics in 2010 as a blog called, Wild About Weather, which quickly gained a following. He also launched an app in 2013 called, Know Snow, designed to accurately forecast the chances of school closings.